1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the addition to an article of footwear and more particularly a snowboard boot, of a system for stiffening and/or protecting the front surface of the article of footwear. This system is constituted by a front cover, which is removable or irremovable, rigid or semi-rigid, and by a device serving as an attachment point therefor, which is inserted into, beneath, or on both sides of the front half of the sole, enabling the system to be affixed temporarily or permanently to the article of footwear, independently of the vamp or upper, while enabling front-to-rear mobility of the cover with respect to this attachment point.
This novelty can lend itself to applications in various fields:                shoes requiring protection for the vamp, instep, and tibia;        safety boots;        motorcycle boots or the like;        shoes requiring the foot to be supported with variable rigidity;        protection and/or support of the ankle or the forefoot;        shoes requiring a power of transmission of the forces to which they are subjected by limiting the loss or lack of focus of energy associated with the deformation, while ensuring comfort and plantar sensitivity for their user; and        shoes for leisure and roller sports, hiking, and more particularly shoes adapted to be affixed to a sports apparatus, especially for gliding sports, cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, snowboarding, but also for other sporting activities such as snowshoeing, etc.        
The present development applies to the addition of the device to a snowboard boot or shoe, but is of course not limited to such an application.
2. Description of Background and Pertinent Information
The current techniques attempt to combine a satisfactory user's comfort, warmth, imperviousness, flexibility, absence of hard spots in the liner, light plantar sensations, with a rigidity of the footwear which satisfactorily responds to the mechanical stresses, forces exerted on the binding, on the board, and to the biomechanical stresses, optimum transmission of the forces from the snowboarder to the board.
These techniques propose solutions which unevenly deal with the rigidity to comfort ratio. Indeed, either the flexural rigidity of the shoe is high and the shoe has a heavy and rigid sole, which hinders plantar sensations, comfort when putting on or removing both the shoes and the snowboard, and ease of walking, or the flexural rigidity of the boot is low, and the shoe can be comfortable, but the force transmission quality is poor. Thus, the rigidity in extension, via the support of the rear surface of the leg on the rear upper, causes a lift of the forefoot, which, depending on the forces exerted, causes a torsional deformation of the shoe. In addition, any attempt to resolve these problems most often calls for an increase in the number of pieces or inserts necessary to hold the foot, both on the shoe and on the board and its binding, which hinders the ease and pleasure in using the assembly.
Finally, the existing systems are not very adaptable, do not allow any rigidity adjustment, etc., and cause the boot to be highly specific with respect to the diversity in the current snowboarding practices.
Currently, three shoes or boots/bindings principles can be distinguished. The first, which is the oldest, consists of a flexible boot, with no particular reinforcement, whose rigidity is provided by the so-called “shell” binding system mounted entirely on the board. It has a device for affixing the shoe on the board, constituted of a rigid plate positioned flat on the board ensuring the boot/board connection, which supports, in its rear portion, a rear cover or spoiler ensuring the rear support of the boot, a system of straps or ratchets holding the heel by covering the instep/ankle juncture and, in its median or front portion, another strap or ratchet holding the forefoot against the aforementioned plate.
The second principle, so called “step-in,” has a binding system which only affixes the shoe and the snowboard. The shoe then has reinforcements inside the footwear in the form of plastic inserts located only between the rear upper and the liner (integrated spoiler), a more rigid sole than the previous one, and external reinforcements in the form of straps latching the upper portion of the ankle and the instep.
The last principle is a combination of the previous ones, wherein the rear upper reinforcement is seen, either on the binding, or fixed externally to the rear surface of the shoe. These two last principles have a generally higher rigidity than the first boots/bindings principle for a greater weight as well, a loss of gliding plantar sensations and a flexural rigidity directly associated with the aging of the material constituting the footwear and with the intensity of the activity.